TUBEBUDDY VS VIDIQ

TubeBuddy and VidIQ are both fantastic and efficient channel management toolkits, but are they really that different? We’ll be comparing TubeBuddy vs VidIQ, to ultimately help you decide which is the best solution for you.

If you are serious about YouTube SEO, you’re certainly familiar with TubeBuddy and VidIQ. Both tools add special functionality and data to YouTube and make many SEO tasks significantly easier.

Both TubeBuddy and VidIQ offer free browser extensions and free account levels, and both tools have various premium levels and features.

But which of the two tools are better? Should you use one of the free tools, or both at the same time? If you can only pay for one premium tool, which one should it be? That is what we will cover in this post.

NOTE: Many links in this article are affiliate links. I’m a paid user of both of these tools, and I’m recommending based on my own personal experience and opinions. This post is not sponsored by either company and I have no affiliation with them other than the standard affiliate program. If you click the links in the article and decide to purchase the premium versions, I may receive a commission.

TUBEBUDDY!

TubeBuddy is the premier YouTube channel management and video optimization toolkit. Their innovative software platform integrates directly into YouTubes website and provides an array of tools that save creators time, make videos more engaging and profitable, and deliver the data and insights needed to optimize video marketing strategies.

Overall: Trying to grow a channel can be difficult but I have found that with TubeBuddy It just makes Your work so much faster and allow You to focus on what's important, creating content! Canned Responses allows you to set up some pre-defined responses like welcome messages, thank you responses, recommendations to my content so if you are trying to engage with your subscribers and commenters you can save time by just clicking on a response and it will auto-fill a message you have set up. This saves you so much time while I am engaging my audience, and this is so important to new channels because you need to build your community and responding to comments is extremely helpful in building your subscriber base. 

TubeBuddy offers any content creator working with the YouTube platform a vast set of tools that can help you to rank your content and get more views and subscribers. Some of the notable pro and features of the software are the Tag Explorer which allows you to research tags for your videos to see what tags people are using related to the type of content you are uploading. This can give you an edge by using the top-rated tags for the niche of your channel. You can even see if your topic is trending and get Auto-suggested tags for your topic. There is also a topic planner that you can use to organize your next video project, it allows you to get your title and notes organized so you don't go into your content creation process without a structured plan. A really cool feature of the software is that it can analyze your channel and tell you when the best time to publish your video is based on when your content is being viewed so you can maximize your view counts with a timed release for maximum exposure. One of the biggest Pros is that you can use the software to look at what other creators are doing such as tags and even copy the same tags your competitors are using and use them on your content with a click of a button. You can even see who is recommending their content which allows you to better structure your own content. Also, it's worth mentioning that with your subscription you get access to free content like music and graphics you can use in your videos.

Cons: TubeBuddy is a great tool for those who want their channel successful. Currently "No-Cons" for this tool.  TUBEBUDDY OFFICIAL SITE

VidiQ

VidIQ is a powerful YouTube video marketing tool that offers many features to help you get more views and higher rankings for your videos. You can sign up for VidIQ for free. 

TheVidIQ vision integrates fantastically with YouTube, assisting you in various functions like scheduled video upload, YouTube SEO, Twitter and Facebook engagement analytics and insights, comment moderation or bulk description editing. VidIQ basically takes the work out channel management and digital marketing to ensure that you reach a wider target audience.

VidIQ comes either as a plugin or browser extension (browser plugin) and is very intuitive in operation. Unlike Tube Buddy whose dashboard tends to cover up your screen, VidIQ neatly stays as in IQ icon on the right of your browser toolbar. Its analytics and real-time trending stats bar panel can be accessed on the right side of your video content, when necessary.

Like TubeBuddy a lot of VidIQ features are free so you can take it for a test drive before committing financially to its premium features. Below are some fantastic elements of VidIQ.

Custom Reporting and Analysis

This VidIQ tool helps YouTube creators to zone in on what significantly drives their channel’s watch time. Some of its features include an engagement analytics graph that represents a bird’s eye view of all your channel’s FaceBook, Twitter and YouTube engagement stats all under one roof. VidIQ’s analytics features beats those of YouTube hands down because they are well organized and attractively presented.

There is a feature “Best Time of Day” to post to YouTube, that ensures that your channel ‘s programming schedule is covered for optimum engagement.

And in case you are also interested in your audience’s demographics, by gender or location, you can view this data under the YouTube Audience Demographics feature. Another analytics feature that you might be interested in is the viewer sources data by watch time which even avails top Google and YouTube top keywords and keyword prhases that are driving watch time.

Influencer Discovery

A good analytics tool should avail an analysis of your subscribers and VidIQ has this all down to a pat. This data will inform you about who is watching, commenting and liking your content. And if you’d like to know what your subscribers are watching from other channels or which ones they subscribe too apart from yours, this feature is all you need. This pro feature will help you know who your super fans are and how to connect with them for lasting engagement.

Channel Management Services

VidIQ’s premium channel management services show channel audit data, YouTube analytics, and support and account strategies to ensure that your content strategy is fitting to your subscribers.

Workflow Automation

Besides great content, long-tail keywords, keyword research module, keyword suggestion, tags, cards, and annotations will help subscribers find your content quickly and increase their watch time too.

These items need to be optimized for greater efficiency, but with a YouTube tag, for example, having a 500 character limit, you would have to have tons of patience to manually do them for the hundreds of videos you might have on your channel. VidIQ’s workflow automation feature will save you all that money, time and sanity and automate these functions so you can get back to doing what you do best; creating excellent content!

Community management

Every YouTuber loves it when their subscribers are engaged enough to comment, but what happens when all you fans decide to swamp you with thousands of comments? Use VidIQ to moderate comments, community engagements and for video uploads as well.

When you register and confirm your YouTube account, VidIQ asks you questions about your channel to customize your account. You'll then have access to a number of features:

• 1 user and channel. With the free version, you're limited to a single YouTube channel. You can, of course, upload as many videos as you want to a single channel. 
• Audience demographics. Learn about your subscribers: their age, gender, location, and other data.
• Track 3 competitors. Tracking competition is a critical aspect of YouTube marketing. VidIQ provides many tools to make you aware of what others in your niche or industry are up to. 
• Basic video analytics (for Web Suite). You have access to the Real Time Stats Bar, which gives you the latest views, minutes watched, subscribers, and other vital stats. 
• Video Scorecard for Chrome extension. See your VidIQ Score to instantly see how your videos are performing.
• 1 trend alerts with limited options. Trend alerts provide you with valuable insights on what topics to cover in your videos. 

While you have limited options with the free version, You can derive some real benefits by having easy access to analytics and the Video Scorecard. This also gives you a good introduction to the platform and can help you decide if you want to upgrade. 

CONCLUSION:Both platforms have a lot to offer if you are out to give your subscribers the very best of content. They also make easy the work of managing and moderating large YouTube accounts. Their video SEO and analytics features are out of this world helpful.

Perhaps their most significant difference lies in their pricing. VidIQ costs more for its premium features. Its analytics pages are more accessible and easier to read through.

TubeBuddy’s makers are a friendly bunch, and their rapport with the YouTube community has made TubeBuddy a top choice for many users. People love their knack of coming up with good updates that help them stay ahead of the competition. Of particular note is their awesome thumbnail tool for YouTube featured image upload (quality images can increase ranking and CTRs).

VidIQ users though feel that TubeBuddy is a bit invasive because it requires partnership with channels, which entails the sharing of a lot of personal information.

Best Combo? I actually think using TubeBuddy Legend here PLUS VidIQ Pro (roughtly $60/month) is the OPTIMAL setup, assuming you have the budget. Otherwise, stick to TubeBuddy Pro for under accounts under 1000 subscribers.

Bottom Line: I prefer TubeBuddy here as the analytics features are a bit more robust for the basic and middle tier pricing options.

At the end of the day, both are very helpful to social YouTubers and are unrivaled in quality. The key lies in picking one that works with your budget or whose free features you enjoy the most or find more comfortable to use.